


Day 26 - Return

by moonblossom



Series: Pre-Nickels Nickels 30 Day Challenge [26]
Category: Cut & Run - Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Genre: Angst, M/M, POWs, Trauma, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-27
Updated: 2014-10-27
Packaged: 2018-02-22 21:25:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2522333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonblossom/pseuds/moonblossom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick and Ty are back, which is a good thing, because Kelly wasn't particularly functional without them.</p>
<p>
  <a href="http://wintergrey.dreamwidth.org/15168.html">Day 26: "I Need You."</a>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day 26 - Return

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, in case the tags didn't give it away, this is Kelly's internal reaction when Nick and Ty come back from being held captive. It's not particularly happy or fluffy, so if that's the sort of thing you're looking for you might want to give this one a pass for now.

Three weeks. It had only been _three weeks_ since everything had gone to shit. To Kelly, it felt like he'd lived a thousand lifetimes already.

Kelly had woken up after the helo had gone down, and somehow he had known immediately that Nick was gone. Ty was gone too, and that hurt like hell, but _Nick_. Gone, gone, gone. Gone was the weight of him, the width and the breadth and the height, like a giant cavernous hole in Kelly's chest. He couldn't go through with a loss like that. Not again.

It was as if suddenly he was a little boy again, staring out a door into the pouring rain, waiting for the two guiding lights in his life to come back to him. 

That had been three weeks ago, and nothing had changed.

He sat at the end of his rack, facing the door but not really seeing anything. Owen came in and smiled sadly at him, but Kelly just shook his head. He nodded and left without saying a word, and Kelly was infinitely grateful.

Sometime later, it could have been a few minutes or a few hours, he heard a commotion coming from outside. People were running in from all directions, surrounding a dusty-looking transport. There were indistinct shouts, but through it all he heard the words _tortured_ and _Grady_ , and he knew immediately what was going on.

Kelly stumbled, nearly falling to his knees as the wind was knocked out of him. He threw himself into the crowd, shouting over the din.

"Let me through, I'm their medic. I'm their friend." His voice broke slightly but the men around him had the decency not to say anything.

He scrambled into the back of the transport, vaguely aware of Owen's presence next to him. Digger and Eli were probably around somewhere too, but Kelly's ears were ringing and his vision had narrowed to the two mangled, bloody bodies in front of him. Nothing else was relevant right now.

"No..." He stumbled again, dropping to his knees between them. He thought he saw Ty's chest rise and fall, but knew his eyes could be playing tricks on him, the human brain often had trouble _not_ parsing another person as breathing normally.

"Nick..." He fell forward, his forehead pressed against Nick's matted, bloody hairline.

"Nick, come on... I need you." His hands fumbled as he cradled Nick's head, fingers feeling desperately for a pulse. It was weak and erratic, but it was there. Kelly's shoulders slumped with relief and he cried out for a stretcher.

"Kelly?" Nick's eyes fluttered open. He looked disoriented, detached from the whole situation. He tried to sit up and coughed weakly, and Kelly rested a hand on his chest to stop him, fingers absently tracing his dog tags.

"It's me," Kelly nodded. "I'm here. You guys are safe. Don't try to get up."

Nick glanced over at Ty, who was squinting, as if the sun was too bright. Kelly reached over and squeezed Ty's shoulder too. 

As soon as he'd seen solid proof that they were both alive, his body switched over into crisis mode. He turned to the men milling around and started barking orders at them. Someone had already brought over two stretchers and several IVs of fluids and Kelly hooked them both up quickly and competently, not even taking the time to put gloves on. He'd probably get dressed down for it later, but right now he didn't particularly care.

As they hefted Nick onto one of the stretchers, he reached out weakly and grabbed Kelly's hand. Kelly twined his fingers through Nick's and squeezed. Nick squeezed back for a moment before his grip went slack as he faded out again.

The adrenaline flooded out of Kelly's body almost instantly and he slumped to the ground, leaning against the side of the vehicle. He'd need to get up and do his job again in a few seconds, but first he needed to make sure his legs would hold him up and the contents of his stomach would stay put.

The next few days would be vital to Nick and Ty, and the next few weeks would be difficult for everyone. Kelly needed to get his head on straight and make sure he was there for them.

He felt something cold bump his shoulder. Owen was standing next to him, holding out a bottle of water. Kelly reached up to grab it and nodded at him gratefully. He downed it in one gulp, stood up, and brushed the dirt off his ass before heading towards the mobile hospital. Eli was already there, waving him over.

"Hurry the fuck up, Doc. Nick's asking for you."


End file.
